Colorado took another small but important step up the daunting Big 12 ladder on Wednesday night with a 77-67 victory over Oklahoma at the Coors Events Center.

The Buffs (12-13 overall, 3-8 conference) are now looking down at two teams -- Iowa State (2-9) and Nebraska (1-10) -- in the standings with three more favorable matchups remaining on the schedule.

When Jeff Bzdelik`s three stars -- Cory Higgins, Alec Burks and Marcus Relphorde -- are all healthy CU is a difficult team to play.

And if point guard Nate Tomlinson continues to play like he did against the Sooners ... well, the program could rise to much greater heights.

"We all feel like we can win every game," Relphorde said. "We`re just trying to get on the same page and play hard every night, and I feel like we`re definitely going to make a little run."

Relphorde sat out of Saturday`s 68-51 loss at Kansas State. Higgins and Burks combined for 38 points but didn`t get much help in Manhattan from the rest of the Buffs.

Against the slumping Sooners (13-12, 4-7), Relphorde made a spectacular return to the starting lineup with 13 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and only two turnovers in 36 minutes.

"When everybody is healthy, we`re pretty tough to guard," said Higgins, who had 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and no turnovers. "There`s going to be a matchup problem somewhere, they`re not going to be able to handle all three of us. When all three of us are healthy, it just makes the game so much easier."

Burks could have been the difference in close losses to Iowa State and No. 1 Kansas had the talented freshman not suffered a knee injury. The 6-6 guard scored 17 points on 5-for-6 shooting against OU.

"We try to share the ball and get everybody involved," Burks said. "When we do that we win games."

CU broke open a nip-and-tuck affair with an 8-0 runmidway through the second half to take a 59-47 lead on a layup by Dwight Thorne with 9:08 remaining. Another transition hoop by Higgins with 6:18 left gave the Buffs their largest lead (66-51).

The Buffs led 69-56 after a 3-pointer by Burks. The crowd was celebrating early and the young home team might have got caught up in excitement as OU answered with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to five points with 2:18 left.

"I can`t repeat most of what he was saying," Higgins said of Bzdelik`s message in the ensuing timeout. "He just said we were letting the game slip away and we had worked too hard for 35 minutes and played good enough basketball. To let it slip away would just be stupid, so we had to get it together."

CU answered with a key 3-pointer by Tomlinson and scored the final five points of the game in the final minute to snap its four-game losing streak in style.

Tomlinson (13 points) was the fourth player to score in double figures for the Buffs. He also added a career-high eight rebounds as CU matched OU on the boards (33-33).

Thorne added nine points, and Austin Dufault scored five points in the first two and a half minutes before getting called for his second foul.

"I get animated out there on the sideline and I told them it`s because we need to understand how important each possession is in a basketball game," Bzdelik said. "You can`t be careless with the ball and you have to value the possession itself because so many of these games come down to the very end."

OU was led by freshman point guard Tommy Mason-Griffin`s 19 points. Willie Warren (also 19 points) and Tiny Gallon (10 rebounds) returned to the lineup for OU after missing Saturday`s loss at Oklahoma State.

"Colorado was really good tonight," OU coach Jeff Capel said. "You have to give them all the credit. Those guys came ready to play. They shared the ball and did a lot of good things."

The Buffs will face top-ranked Kansas on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. CU lost the first meeting with the Jayhawks 72-66 in overtime on Feb. 3.

Colorado 77, Oklahoma 67

OKLAHOMA

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Wright 17 1-4 2-2 2-4 0 1 4

Fitzgrld 22 4-6 1-2 0-1 1 1 9

Crocker 28 2-10 0-0 0-5 3 5 4

M-Grffn 39 7-12 2-2 1-3 3 2 19

Davis 39 3-7 1-1 0-7 1 2 8

Pledger 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Franklin 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Warren 30 5-9 6-9 0-0 2 3 19

Gallon 23 2-6 0-0 0-10 0 2 4

Totals 200 24-55 12-16 3-33 10 16 67

Percentages: FG .436, FT .750.

3-Point Goals: 7-20, .350 (Warren 3-3, Mason-Griffin 3-7, Davis 1-5, Gallon 0-1, Franklin 0-1, Crocker 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 3.

Blocked Shots: 2 (Gallon, Davis).

Turnovers: 11 (Mason-Griffin 7, Gallon 2, Warren 2).

Steals: 5 (Davis 2, Warren 2, Gallon).

Technical Fouls: None.

COLORADO

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Dufault 15 2-3 1-1 0-0 0 2 5

Tmlnsn 28 4-6 3-4 0-8 3 4 13

Relphrd 36 6-13 0-1 0-10 6 1 13

Burks 32 5-6 6-7 1-3 2 3 17

CHiggins 33 7-17 3-3 0-4 3 3 18

Thorne 21 3-7 2-2 0-1 3 0 9

Hrs-Tnks 23 0-2 0-0 0-5 1 2 0

Knutson 9 1-1 0-0 0-2 1 0 2

Eckloff 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 200 28-56 15-18 1-33 19 15 77

Percentages: FG .500, FT .833.

3-Point Goals: 6-14, .429 (Tomlinson 2-4, Burks 1-1, Thorne II 1-2, Relphorde 1-3, C.Higgins 1-4).

Team Rebounds: 0.

Blocked Shots: 5 (Harris-Tunks 2, Burks, Thorne II, Dufault).

Turnovers: 7 (Burks 3, Relphorde 2, Tomlinson 2).

Steals: 5 (Relphorde 2, Tomlinson, Burks, C.Higgins).

Technical Fouls: None.

Oklahoma 30 37--67

Colorado 33 44--77

A -- 5,976.

Officials -- Duke Edsall, Terry Davis, Don Daily.